


Burned At The Edges

by MelodramaticSalad



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Sterek, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski are Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Engaged Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fire, Firefighter Derek, Hurt Derek, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Paramedic Stiles Stilinski, Surrogacy, mentions of child death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 20:04:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8814418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticSalad/pseuds/MelodramaticSalad
Summary: Stiles and Derek work in emergency services. Stiles is the lead Paramedic on his team and Derek is the Lieutenant of his fire squad. As fiances, some days tend to end up harder than others. When the one he loves nearly dies in the field, Stiles realizes just how precious life can be.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheTrickyOwl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTrickyOwl/gifts).



> Warning: There is mentions of an offescreen Child death and Stiles dealing with it in his job as a Paramedic. It's not described graphically and is at the end of the fic.
> 
> My friend Kylie, who I adore very much, requested a Sterek AU Firefighter/Paramedic AU, where one is trapped in a fire and the other has to pull them from the house. When I read the prompt, I realized I had to write the heck out of it! Hope you like it, Kylie!

Sometimes it wasn't easy working with your best friends when you were all in a dangerous line of work. The desire to help people had a tendency to outweigh your own well being, and your brain would shut out any distractions other than total focus on its set goal. 

Stiles' work as an EMT generally wasn't as dangerous for him, but he saw all of the danger that could cause such damage to people. He got a front row seat to the mayhem and destruction that nature and humans themselves could unleash on each other.

He’d been eating lunch in the back of his ambulance when the call came in.

_“Code 99, 907N needed at a 904S on 1067 W Oak Street. Fire squads are already on location.”_ He heard his father’s voice come on the radio.

Stiles shoved his sub sandwich back into his bag and scrambled to the front of the vehicle as his partner, Danny got on his walkie. “10-4, on our way now.”

Stiles buckled up as Danny started up the ambulance and flipped the sirens on. The closer they got to the apartment fire, the thicker the smoke got. The police had put up barricades around the area to keep people away and only allowed traffic for the emergency vehicles. Once they arrived, Stiles noticed that they were the first ambulance on the scene. He nodded to himself, knowing that they would take charge and asses what would needed to be done.

He took a quick glance over to one of the fire trucks beside them, taking a quick note of the numbers. Derek’s squad was there. He knew the job would get done smoothly with his fiance on the job. Stiles nodded to himself and focused on taking care of each survivor once they were brought out. He had to call more ambulances onto the scene, putting the ones with more minor injuries in a safe spot so their wounds would be treated while the major injuries were taken straight to the Emergency room.

“What do you need me to do, Stiles?” Stiles glanced over at another squad mate of his, Erica, before he pointed down towards where they were taking care of the civilians.

“Each time someone is brought out, I need help assessing the damage and treating the minor injuries here. We’re keeping them categorized. Level 4s are uninjured, Level 3 is very minor injuries such as scrapes and bruises. Level 2’s are the ones we are treating here such as minimal stitches, low amounts of smoke inhalations. Level 1’s are critical injuries or inhalation and go straight to the ER. Level 0’s are the deceased.” Stiles was just thankful that so far, no one was dead. He mostly credited to many of the tenants being at work since it was early in the day.

Erica gave him a thumb’s up and went straight to work. Stiles was thankful to have more help and went back to doing a double check that everyone was being taken care of.

Once the stream of patients seemed to slow down, Stiles looked back at the fire squad and headed over, doing a quick count of who was out of the building. “What’s the situation?”

“Derek’s still in the building. I can’t get him on radio.” Boyd replied, looking more than a little concerned.

Stiles felt his chest tighten, as if someone was squeezing his heart and lungs in a solid grip. He quickly looked back at the building as his heart started to pound in his ears once the panic started to set in. He heard Boyd say something else but didn’t process it as time seemed to slow down. Before he even realized it, Stiles broke out in a run towards the building as the others yelled for him to stop. Stiles rushed through the hallway, trying to figure out where Derek could have gone.

“Derek!” He shouted as he took a quick look around the lobby before he shouted again, “Derek! Can you hear me?!” No answer.

Stiles took the stairs up to the second floor, trying again. “Derek! Are you up here?!”

“H-Help!” He heard a tiny voice cry out.

Stiles felt his stomach drop in terror and quickly rushed towards the sound of the voice, shoving the open the ajar door at the end of the hall. He coughed when thick smoke greeted him, lifting his arm in an attempt to shield his eyes and nose.

“I’m here! Where are you?” He called again.

“Here!” The voice exclaimed again.

Stiles’ eyes stung from the smoke as he pushed on, meeting a small child in the hallway. The boy had to be about nine and was wearing one of the standard issue oxygen masks. Stiles’ eyes widened when he realized it was Derek’s.

“Are you okay? What happened?” He asked, trying to make sure the kid was okay first.

“I-I, he told me to run out! He gave me his mask and he fell down here! I wanted to make sure he was okay! He’s not answering.” Stiles’ eyes widened as the terror gripped him again. 

Oh, fuck. 

Oh fuck. 

Oh _fuck!_

Before he could run to the back room, a hand grabbed his shoulder and he whirled around to see Boyd. “Get him out of here Stiles, we’ll get Derek.”

Stiles couldn’t even argue. He gave a mute nod and grabbed the kid, turning and rushing down to the bottom floor so he could get him out of the building.

The moment he was out, he dropped to his knees, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he coughed against the burning in his lungs. Danny took the kid from him, carrying him over to the ambulance while Stiles’ dad grabbed him by the shoulders so he could get a look at him.

“Stiles, are you okay? Why did you run in there?” The Sheriff asked, trying to get a look at his face.

Stiles felt his mouth quiver as his body started to shake. “D-Derek...Derek…” He rubbed at his eyes, unable to tell if he was crying from the smoke or the terror.

When he heard rapid footsteps, he finally looked back and felt his throat tighten when he saw Boyd carrying Derek out of the building.

“He’s not breathing!” Boyd called out to him and Stiles forced himself to his feet so he could help. Once Derek was placed flat on the ground, Stiles placed his hands on his sternum and began to press. He counted under his breath and ignored the blood on Derek’s face.

Stiles ignored the blood on Derek’s lower half as he moved on to press his lips to Derek’s to force air in.

_Breathe. Breathe, fucking breathe for me._ He thought to himself, pulling away from his mouth.

"Come on, Derek, open for eyes for me! I'm not fucking losing you!"

On the third rep, Stiles felt the panic spike again and continued to work with him in desperation. He was not fucking losing him.

When he pressed his lips to Derek’s again, Derek finally coughed and rolled his head to the side. Stiles almost let out a sob at the sound of Derek breathing and the sight of his chest rising and falling. He quickly rubbed at his eyes and looked to his team. “We’ll take him in the ambulance. We need to get him on oxygen stat and let the ER know about his injuries.” His voice cracked as he spoke, but he pushed on so he could take care of Derek and get him to the help he’d need.

 

Once Stiles’ shift ended, he was back in the hospital so he would be there once Derek came out of surgery.

Stiles paced for hours, thinking about everything that could go wrong. He felt lost and useless in the waiting room. There wasn't anything he could do to help Derek right now and he hated every single moment of it. 

When the clock finally struck eleven in the evening, Derek was out of surgery. He'd suffered a break in his right leg, two in his left arm. The doctors had to remove debris from his body and give him a skin graft on his leg. For the next few days, Derek would also have to stay on oxygen due to the amount of smoke he had inhaled when he saved the boy's life.

The doctors stressed that Derek was very lucky to survive. Stiles wondered what would have happened if he didn't run blindly into the fire. Would the others have made it in time to save him? The thought made Stiles' throat tighten and his eyes glaze over. He'd just almost lost one of the most important people in his life and the realization of how close it had been felt like his heart was being tightly squeezed.

Stiles stayed behind while Derek's family saw him first, finally taking a seat. Despite the soreness in his legs from the non-stop pacing, he still bounced it to work of his excess anxious energy. As he fidgeted, he let himself get lost in thought.

A hand on his shoulder pulled him out back to reality, making him jump a little. Talia smiled apologetically and gave his shoulder a tender squeeze. "I'm sorry for scaring you. You can go see him now."

Stiles nodded and got to his feet, letting Talia pull him into a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Stiles. You saved my son's life." She murmured and for the first time, Stiles realized that she was shaking too.

Stiles hugged her back tightly and rested his chin on her shoulder as he rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her. "I know he'll be okay, he's really strong. He'll be back to himself in no time."

Talia nodded and soon pulled away, offering Stiles a tired smile. "You should get some rest, you've been up all day."

Stiles nodded and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't really thought about sleeping or how tired he was, since his focus has been on Derek. Now that she had mentioned it, he realized just how exhausted he felt. "Yeah, I'll go home after I see him."

Talia nodded and pat his shoulder before leaving with the rest of the Hales. Stiles sighed and headed into Derek's room, biting at his lip at the sight of him. Derek's skin looked pallid from the blood loss and exhaustion was clear on his face. Stiles sighed and pulled up a chair so he could sit beside the bed and watch over him.

He reached out and took Derek's hand, sighing at the warmth as he gave it a soft squeeze. The warmth soothed his mind, reassuring him that this was real, that Derek was okay. 

 

Stiles thought about their life together as he watched Derek sleep. They’d known each other since birth and most of their memories were shared with each other. Their first slumber party, when they had some friends over at Derek’s house so they could watch Batman movies and the Gargoyles cartoons. They even had rounds of 007 on the Nintendo 64 until none of the children could keep their eyes open any longer.

 

They spent their summers roaming the woods around Derek’s house or playing in the treehouse that Derek’s father had built for him.

 

During junior high and high school, they cheered each other on at their games. Stiles went to all of Derek’s basketball games while Derek went to all of Stiles’ lacrosse games. After each game, the player would be treated to a meal of their choice to celebrate.

 

When they were sixteen, Stiles kissed him in the treehouse for the first time for Valentine’s Day. They ended up announcing that they were dating at Lydia’s party months later, kissing during a game of spin the bottle. Stiles remembered Jackson begrudgingly giving Boyd and Erica twenty bucks each. Apparently their parents had a similar bet with each other. Stiles wondered just how many people were trying to figure out when they’d get together.

 

After graduation, they both had been accepted to Berkeley with full rides. Stiles remembered how excited they had been when they opened their acceptance letters together and saw they wouldn’t have to be separated from each other. Stiles had screamed and practically jumped into Derek’s arms, sending them both to the floor as they and their families laughed.

 

He remembered when Derek developed an interest in the Fire Science program while Stiles had gone into medical studies. They both quickly realized they wanted to focus on a career path where they were helping people, so naturally they both went for jobs in Emergency Services once they graduated from school.

 

Within a few years, Derek was a Lieutenant at his station and Stiles was Lead Paramedic in his group. They both lived together in a three bedroom house and had even been talking about someday having a child. A little over a month ago, Derek had proposed to Stiles under their old treehouse. Neither of them could see themselves spending their lives with anyone else, so it was only natural that they took that next step.

 

Stiles gave an exhausted smile at all of the memories and brushed his thumb over the back of his hand, letting the movement soothe him until he fell asleep.

Stiles woke up to fingers brushing through his hair, comforting him with gentle touches. Stiles let out a soft groan and rolled his face to bury it in a blanket. "Five more minutes." He grumbled.

"Alright, fine, I'll leave you alone." Stiles eyes shot open at the soft voice and he whirled his head back to face Derek.

Derek gave him an exhausted smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey."

Stiles brightened up at the sight of that smile and found himself smiling back. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Like shit, honestly, but it's not as bad as it could be. The nurse already changed my IV and brought breakfast. I saved you my muffin." Derek replied, nodding his head towards the large chocolate muffin on his tray.

Stiles reached over to grab it, ripping a piece off of the top and popping it into his mouth. "How long have you been awake?"

Derek pursed his lips in thought and glanced over at the clock on the wall. "About an hour?"

Stiles paused in taking another bite and stared at him in disbelief. "You've been up for an hour and you didn't wake me up? Why not?"

"Melissa told me that you'd been here all night with me. With the addition of your early shift yesterday, I knew that you needed to get some sleep. You were probably worrying about me too much."

"Too much? Derek...You almost died. I think it's safe to say that it was a justifiable amount of worry." Stiles pointed out with a frown. "I literally ran into a burning building, it's safe to say I can worry as much as I want!"

Derek's eyes widened in shock and Stiles mentally cursed when he realized what he had said. "You went into the building?"

"I went looking for you."

"You ran into a burning building!" Stiles cringed and looked away.

"You almost died." Derek's face softened at the sound of Stiles' voice cracking. Derek sighed through his nose and reached over to rub Stiles' shoulder. Stiles sniffled and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "I couldn't lose you."

Derek sighed and pat the bed. "Come here, I can't hold you from there."

Stiles nodded and carefully climbed into bed with Derek. He buried his face in his good shoulder and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

 

Derek rubbed Stiles’ back in an attempt to comfort him. “I know, you panicked and you did what you thought was best. I can’t be angry at that. I just don’t want you to throw yourself in danger like that. What if I had gotten out another way and you had been trapped inside? You would have suffocated if you didn’t burn to death first.”

 

“But it didn’t happen that way. If it wasn’t for the kid you saved, we wouldn’t have known where to find you. You would have died and I would have been outside, standing and waiting around for you.” Stiles countered.

 

Derek pursed his lips together as he tried to think of what to say. “Can you promise me that you won’t do something that reckless again?”

 

Stiles raised an eyebrows and looked up at Derek incredulously. “You’re asking _me_ that?”

 

Derek rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I guess that isn’t a good question to ask you. But you understand what I mean, right? I’ll always come home to you, but there wouldn’t be a point if I didn’t have someone to come home to.”

 

Stiles sighed and turned to face him better as he propped himself up, carefully putting his hand by Derek’s side, putting pressure on the bed so he didn’t push a sore spot or touch him wrong. “I’ll try to promise that I won’t needlessly put myself at risk, but if you’re in danger, I’d do anything to help you.”

 

“So, obviously that means that we’re at an impasse here.” Derek murmured, raising his eyebrows a little.

 

Stiles smiled a little and bent down to brush their lips together. “Yeah, I guess we are.” He whispered, pulling away to rest their foreheads together. “You do realize this means that you’re going to be spoiled until you heal, right?”

 

Derek sighed through his nose and shook his head. “You’re going to enjoy this a lot, aren’t you?”

 

Stiles grinned down at him and let out a soft laugh. “You know it, Der.”

 

 

The road to recovery for Derek was a long one. Stiles was there every step of the way, from getting Derek to their bedroom, all the way to helping him in and out of the bathroom and changing his bandages. Stiles tried to keep his schedule clear during Derek’s physical therapy sessions once they finally started, but there were occasions when he had to be called in.

 

While they were getting ready to go to lunch before their next session, Stiles was called into work.

 

Stiles sighed as he hung up, looking over to Derek. “They need you?” Derek asked, setting his crutches against the wall so he could pull on his jacket.

 

“Yeah, they need more people. I’m so sorry, I really wanted to go with you.”

 

Derek shook his head and grabbed his crutches again so he could kiss his forehead and head back to the couch. “You go with me to every session, it’s fine. Go now, Dear. I’ll see if Laura or Cora can take me.”

 

Stiles nodded and rushed to their bedroom so he could change into his uniform. On his way out, he bent over the back of the couch and pressed a kiss to Derek’s head. “I’ll be home as soon as I can, babe.”

 

“Be safe. I’ll see you when you get back.” Derek replied, smiling up at him. “We still have our surrogacy appointment tomorrow after all.” Derek was more than a little excited to get one step closer to having a family with Stiles. They’d talked it over a lot during their time together and realized that they were ready to be parents. Especially since they were at a point in their careers where they could make their schedules work and have more than enough time with a baby.

 

Stiles nodded and grabbed his car keys, blowing him a kiss before he headed out.

 

By the time Stiles got home, the sun had set hours ago. Derek had to admit he was a little worried, but he also knew that their jobs had long hours. He figured Stiles just got really busy, and if anything happened, he would text Derek and let him know.

 

When Derek finally heard the door open, he perked up and pushed himself up on the couch so he could sit upright. “Welcome home.” He called.

 

Stiles didn’t answer, and when he stepped into the living room, Derek understood why. Stiles’ light skin looked even more pale and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked exhausted, both emotionally and physically. Derek opened his arms and offered Stiles a safe space. Stiles walked across living room and accepted the offering, wrapping his arms around Derek and burying his face in his shoulder. Derek squeezed his eyes shut at the broken sob Stiles let out, pressing a soft kiss to his head as he rubbed his back. “I’m here.” He whispered.

 

Derek held Stiles like that for almost an hour before Stiles finally started to talk about what happened. There had been a massive pile up on the highway and there were a few fatalities. “One of them was a little girl.” He whispered, rubbing his eyes. “She was two fucking years old and we couldn’t save her. I...I was in charge of resuscitating her and we couldn’t get her to respond.” Stiles lifted his hands to his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut when he started to cry again.

 

Derek nodded and pressed gentle kisses to Stiles’ face. “You did everything you could, Stiles. You did everything right and did your best. There wasn’t anything different you could have done, I’m sorry.” Derek whispered to him. Derek had seen his fair share of casualties, from the elderly to infants. It was always difficult to see, and Stiles always helped him with it whenever he struggled. Stiles had seen people die too, but never someone so young.

 

It hit home extremely hard, knowing that they were preparing to raise a child of their own. It put it in perspective just how fragile and how unfair life was. Stiles had to hold it together when he had announced the time of death, and he’d been there when they told the father at the hospital while the mother was in surgery. The sounds of that father’s agony still sent shudders down Stiles’ spine. It had been a few hours since he had gotten off work, but he told Derek he had stopped at the park and cried because he couldn’t make it home. Derek kissed Stiles’ head again when he buried it in his shoulder and gently rocked them side to side as he comforted him.

 

“Do you want hot chocolate?” He asked softly. Stiles nodded but kept his face pressed against his shirt.

 

“Please don’t ever leave me.” Stiles finally whispered, so quietly that Derek almost missed it.

 

“I never will, I promise. Nothing can take me away from you.” Derek whispered back to him.

 

Stiles tightened his grip on his shirt before loosening it again. “Thank you.”

 

Derek nodded and closed his eyes.

 

They still went to their appointment in the morning, Stiles didn’t want to possibly ruin their chances. Derek didn’t push him more than he could handle, only going to the appointment and then straight home. He let Stiles get back in bed and put on movies to give them some background noise while they cuddled together in bed.

 

Nine and a half months later, the engagement ring on Stiles had long been turned into a wedding ring and they had another big change. Stiles entered the house, carrying a baby in his arms. 

 

They ended up with a healthy little girl named Emma, and Stiles couldn’t be any happier. He smiled as he pressed a soft kiss to her head, watching as she slept against his chest. Derek followed him into the house, carrying her carrier in and setting it on the couch once they were in the living room.

 

“I can’t stop smelling her.” Stiles said softly, nuzzling his nose against the soft tuft of brown hair on her head. The smell and feel of the warm baby in his arms grounded him, reminding him that he was a father now and that this was their little girl. 

 

“I don’t blame you. I can’t get over how soft she is.” Derek replied with smiled and sat down on the couch, patting the space beside him so Stiles could take a seat. Stiles sat down and leaned against him, smiling as he adjusted how he was holding the baby.

 

“I love her tiny little fingers.”

 

Derek chuckled and slid his arm around his waist, resting his head against Stiles’ before he closed his eyes. He felt at peace right now, and there was nowhere in the world he would rather be. He knew that whatever obstacles life would try to throw at them, everything would be okay since they had each other and now this newborn little girl.

**Author's Note:**

> 907N: Medical assitance  
> 904S: Structure Fire
> 
> I apologize if I got any of those wrong! Thank you for reading!


End file.
